Good morning,

Socialism always ends up exalting the state over God. I end the week reflecting on the deadly lessons taught by the 20th century.  

Here is today's Texas Minute.

– Michael Quinn Sullivan 

Friday, January 21, 2022
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Pressure Grows On Court of Criminal Appeals

• Texas Scorecard first reported in December that the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals – the highest court on criminal matters – had effectively stripped the Office of the Attorney General of the power to prosecute election fraud cases. Now, reports Brandon Waltens, pressure is building – from the Republican Party of Texas and a growing list of lawmakers – for the justices to reverse their decision.
      
• Earlier this month, A.G. Ken Paxton asked the court for a re-hearing. This week, the Republican Party filed a legal brief supporting that move. “In one stroke, this Court has discarded over a century of Texas jurisprudence and carefully crafted legislation.”
      
• A briefing has also been filed by 14 state senators, led by State Sen.Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston). “First, there is no issue of separation of powers between the Attorney General and district attorneys. Second, not allowing the Attorney General to prosecute these cases dilutes our legislative authority. Third, the Texas Constitution requires the Legislature to write laws that detect and punish voter fraud.”
      
• So far, the court has not indicated whether it will reopen the case.
     
• Should the court decide not to reconsider, some lawmakers—including State Rep. Tony Tinderholt (R–Arlington) are calling for a special session to address the issue. Tinderholt says he is in the process of drafting a constitutional amendment to specifically allow attorney general prosecutions for election code offenses.

School Creates Two-Tier Leave Policy: Vaxxed v Unvaxxed

• Laredo’s United Independent School District board of trustees voted to extend the sick leave for staff members who are out due to the coronavirus—but only if the employees are vaccinated. Tera Collum explains the district will discriminate against its employees based on their medical choice to not vaccinate.
     
• Regardless of employees’ reasons not to get one of the COVID vaccines, they will now be treated differently and required to return to work after 10 days if they get a “positive” COVID test, compared to the 20 days offered to vaccinated employees 
   
• “That is horrible,” said Warren Norred, an Arlington attorney who is running for State Senate District 10. “They’ll punish people who won’t take an experimental drug, but no discussion at all for encouraging a healthful lifestyle.”

Klick Under Fire For Killing Bill That Would Protect Kids

• With early voting just weeks away, the establishment is attempting to come to the rescue of State Rep. Stephanie Klick (R–Fort Worth) as she faces opposition in the primary election. She is under fire for her leading role in killing legislation that would protect minor children from gender modification.
     
• Even as far back as November, ads began playing in her district highlighting her role in killing legislation to ban child gender modification.
     
• Klick has four challengers in the Republican primary, the most of any legislative incumbent. Those challengers include Army veteran David Lowe, podcast host David Silvey, former Haltom City Councilman Anthony Reed, and nurse Benjamin Damico. 
   

• Earlier this week, Gov. Greg Abbott gave his first Texas House endorsement to Klick, calling her “a good friend and staunch supporter of our conservative agenda.”
   

• The newly created Texans for Responsible Government political action committee, funded by Abbott mega-donor Michael Porter, gave one of its first donations of the cycle to Klick in the amount of $10,000. Meanwhile, the Texas Association of Realtors has donated $5,000 to her campaign.

Miss The Forum? Here’s The Recap

• Did you miss the Republican gubernatorial forum this week? Don’t worry, so did Gov. Greg Abbott – who has been no-showing all of them. The good news is that you can watch the video archive while reading Sydnie Henry’s recap.

• At 5:30pm today, you can catch The Headline with Brandon Waltens. He’ll catch you up on the week’s stories with Texas Scorecard journalist Sydnie Henry, and then be joined by the president of Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, Tim Hardin.

Friday Reflection: Remembering The Horror

I have had the opportunity over the years to meet several men who participated in the liberation of the concentration and death camps created by Germany’s National Socialist Workers’ Party. The horror of what they and their colleagues found defies words – yet simultaneously demands we try to find the words so it can be remembered and fought.

Adolf Hitler’s personal antisemitism and racism doesn’t begin to explain the six million people systematically murdered by the Nazi regime.

The Holocaust was the natural result of the worldview embraced by the Nazis and socialist movements everywhere. When one abandons God and His precepts, when one looks to government as the savior, a cult of death and destruction is but a step away.

The God-rejecting systems of socialism and communism enabled the murder of more than 100 million people around the world throughout the 20th century at the hands of their own governments. 

As governing systems, socialism and communism demand – like the ancient Romans before them – that government be placed over the God of Abraham. The dignity of man collapses before the needs of the state.

Yes, there are some who try to put a Christian spin on government-enforced socialism. But that is a lie straight from the pit of hell. Government compulsion is the opposite of Scripture’s call for voluntary charity. Government operates always through coercion and force, and force lodged in the hands of men is always a tool to be abused for power. Always.

Walking through the Holocaust museum in Washington, DC, or its counterpart – Yad Vashem – in Jerusalem is an emotional experience; the sheer magnitude of the inhumanity is overwhelming.

It is overwhelming because we know all humans are capable of such atrocities, left to our devices and separated from God. Yet, thankfully, God provides us glimpses of the beauty possible when people love Him and serve His people.

Honored outside Israel’s Yad Vashem are more than 26,000 Gentiles who placed themselves in danger to rescue Jews from the clutches of the Holocaust; a tree planted in memory of each. 

Among those honored is Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds, a Baptist from Knoxville, TN. While himself a prisoner of war, Edmonds watched in January 1945 as Nazi guards began gathering up Jewish POWs for persecution or murder. He wasn’t going to allow it. 

Edmonds stepped in front of the German officer and declared, “We’re all Jews.” He went on to inform the man that every American POW should be counted as Jewish, gathered up, and executed. Of course, that would be in direct contradiction to international treaty... thus making the individual German soldier personally subject to prosecution for war crimes. The German officer holstered his weapon and walked away. Hundreds of lives were saved that day.

But hundreds, out of six million lost? It might seem inconsequential. Except to those who were saved, and except for the example it set. 

If we are to reject socialism and tyranny, if we are to live in a self-governing political system, we must first ourselves be self-governing. We must be like Roddie Edmonds, willing to stand up and raise our voices to defend and improve the lives of those around us. It can be risky, but we are called to be faithful. Such acts of personal courage are like the scent of a rose, reminding us just how beautiful God’s world can be.